The mood in Burgundy this November was one of quiet optimism. A calm born of exhaustion, after two challenging, enervating years in the vineyards. Despite the mild, sunny November weather, the smiles and bonne humeur, growers frankly looked knackered. Yet descending into the cellar to taste the 2024s, there was a clear spring in their step. "I was scared at harvest time, but the year created great wines", said Pierre Cacheux as he guided us into the tasting room in Vosne. And he was absolutely right.
The vintage was defined by a cool, wet summer and a delicate September recovery. Flowering was delayed and uneven in some areas, with heavy mildew pressure across the Côte de Nuits, particularly impacting red grapes. Domaine des Lambrays, for example, reported a 45% reduction in yield. Rain in July and August slowed ripening, but warm, sunny conditions in mid-September allowed the remaining grapes to reach phenolic maturity. “Despite the difficulties”, said Pierre Muergey, winemaker at both Clos de la Chapelle and his own negociant operation, “there was dry sunny weather at the end of the growing season. There was not much botrytis, so we could wait for full ripeness and got all the way to 100 days of ripening, which always used to be the benchmark.”
Rigorous vineyard management, selective harvesting and hard work in the winery thus meant that it was possible to make excellent wine from what little juice was salvaged in 2024. In some sense it must have felt like a pyrrhic victory. There was little wine to show for their labours. At Domaine de l’Arlot, yields were a measly 8 hectolitres per hectare in 2024 and 16 in 2025. In 2022 & 2023 they were 38 and 42! Romain Taupenot in Morey St Denis was more laconic, confessing these were “the worst yields we have ever seen”. Chablis was hit even worse, with many cuvées completely wiped out this year. And yet, these low yields are what rescued the vintage.
Stylistically, 2024 is new territory for Burgundy. While comparisons have been made to 2017 and 2021, it is unlike either. The wines give the impression of a cooler year, with perfume, tension and lower alcohols, yet there is more ripeness and generosity than expected. Acidity feels rounder, tannins finer and less angular. In that sense, the wines feel more Romanesque than Gothic: harmonious, grounded and proportioned, rather than sharp-edged or austere. The result is a vintage of immediate charm, without sacrificing structure.
The best reds were some of the most approachable we have tasted on release: harmonious, balanced and red-fruited, with glorious perfume, velvet tannin and a lovely line of acidity running through them. The whites are arguably even better – perhaps not quite on equal footing with the legendary 2014s as has been suggested, but still tensile, resonant and vibrant. As is so often the case in cooler years, many of the wines truly express their terroirs, and for Jane Eyre who likes “the transparency in this vintage”, this is a defining feature of the 2024s. This is especially gratifying for collectors, as this makes it a year to buy horizontally. It's easy to appreciate differences between, for example, Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet and Meursault, or Morey St. Denis, Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin in 2024. Those boundaries become less certain in solar years.
All this may lead you to think that this is a vintage to enjoy young. Yet here too 2024 surprises. Géraldine Godot at Domaine de l'Arlot notes that 2024 “seems built for early drinking, but then could surprise in time that it can age." Whilst it is true that these wines are already thrilling to taste, the combination of balance, structure and harmony means they are likely to evolve gracefully, much like the wines from other coolers years such as 2014 & 2017, both of which are drinking beautifully now. Indeed, as Guillaume Tardy at Domaine Jean Tardy notes, "it's not the big powerful vintages that age the best."
So, who are the winners and losers in 2024? Chablis as mentioned has really suffered, although what little wine was rescued had the potential for excellent quality. On the other side of the Côte d’Or, we were blown away by the Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais, where yields are generally more favourable, and quality is more uniformly excellent. Those looking for value in 2024 will find much to enjoy here, and we are pleased to have already launched our Club Barrel of Domaine Jeanne at Francois Raquillet Mercurey Vieilles Vignes. In the Cote d’Or, this is a year to be very selective, in the Cote de Nuits especially. Classification and reputation are more important than ever, and only those growers with the right combination of technical skill, terroir and daring have made glorious wine.
In the end, 2024 is a vintage defined not by what was lost, but by what was earned. Every bottle is the result of hard decisions, relentless work and restraint, both in the vineyard and the cellar. The wines are not loud, nor are they built for instant spectacle, but they are deeply satisfying in their balance and clarity. For those who value perfume over power, freshness over weight and the quiet confidence of terroir well expressed, 2024 offers real rewards. Quantities are painfully small, but for those able to secure them, these are wines that will give pleasure early and continue to unfold with time. Burgundy is never simple, but in 2024 its message feels unusually clear.
